Art at the Denver County Fair

The 2nd Annual Denver County Fair was held this month and I attended again. It seemed a little less exciting this year, perhaps this is because the newness last year gave it that extra something, perhaps it was the Devo show last year, I don’t know.  Anyway, this year was so so.

It’s held mostly indoors at the National Western Complex (where the stock show is held) and it’s broken up into “pavilions.” You know, one pavilion is for crafts (speed knitting contest and booths), one is for kitchen (pie eating contest and other demonstrations), one is for the holistic pavilion (think crystals and psychic readings). You get the idea.  True to county fair style, it did have animals – chickens, llamas, ducks, rabbits, goats, etc. Here’s a sample of these guys:

The Fair was full of contests. In addition to pie eating and speed knitting, there was a spelling bee and a chicken dance contest and lots of other opportunities to win blue ribbons (!). I enjoyed the art though. In the crochet contest there was this green thing and a hat:

I believe this next one (a blue ribbon winner) is a needle point entry:

There were some interesting and hip quilts too, here’s an example (not a blue ribbon winner):

Here are some other pieces I enjoyed:

We passed one of the 4H tables on the way out and saw these two masterpieces (does that first one say “fail”??):

All in all it took about two hours to experience the fair with mostly passing glances. I think I’d go again sometime so this is a quasi-endorsement of the event. Go. See for yourself next year.

July Wrap-up

July was packed with activity - July 4th weekend activities, happy hours, bike events, hiking, etc. However, I did not cover everything in previous posts and now that it’s August, it’s about time.

Notably missing is the Moonlight Classic and my participation with team Hell on Wheelz .  The Moonlight Classic is a benefit bike ride that starts at 10:30 pm, has you ride 10 miles around Denver, and ends with a big party at the state capitol afterwards.  The Hell on Wheelz team was well-organized and pubcrawling-centric.  Good fun but it was late for me with the pre-party at El Diablo, the late start for the ride and leaving our second pub at 11:30 with 8 miles and two more pubs to go.  I left early but had a fun time riding with the team of devils with blinking red horns.

This is a photo Jessica took while we were waiting to start riding:

This is Jessica at El Diablo, that devilish girl:

I hiked to Lake Isabelle near Nederland – this is the lake:

I hiked in Chacos (sandals) and was surprised to encounter so much snow!

I also did some hiking in Boulder with my friend and colleague Pat.  Where we parked was spied on by a little white dog that stuck its head through a hole in the fence.

We hiked to Royal Arch, which is this:

It was a steep climb to the point that the trail had stairs (made of natural stone not concrete stairs).  This is Patrick at the top.

This is one of many chipmunks that was not afraid of people:

In my walking life I tend to take alleys for some reason and I was treated to the sight of a raccoon mom and two of her babies this month.  This is the mom:

These are the babies:

Other July activities are covered in previous posts but I wanted to share these too.  This is G from the Blah Life reporting – over and out.

June wrap-up

This post is just a mishmash of things that happened and that I saw in the latter half of June 2011. 

I didn’t get to see Emily and Archer as much as I would have liked but did get over for brunch and a hang out.  Here is some evidence:

Archer is the cutest baby ever.

I know there are plenty of photography apps for the iPhone but I got a free one – Instagram. It doesn’t do a whole lot but does let you apply filters to photos and make them look more interesting and, in some cases, better.  Here are some examples (the first photo is the original and the second is the one adjusted via Instagram).

Denver’s City and County Building

Archer:

Me:

In June, I saw lot of beautiful skies.  I know I did a whole post on this previously but I had to share these new shots.  By the way, I realize that most of these photos could be religious or inspirational greeting cards, but whatever.

That is all.

Denver skies

In my movement about Denver lately, I've been treated to some beautiful sun and sky.  Denver has a lot of that and I'm struck by it time and time again.

Cloudy sunset photo taken from City Park:

Denver’s Millennium Bridge Friday at sunset:

Record 84 degrees

Yesterday in Denver it hit 84 degrees! I took full advantage.  I put on a sun dress, met a friend, and walked to lunch at a super cute and tasty sandwich shop in the Golden Triangle – Parsley.  This place should really be in Boulder – organic everything, vegetable juice, etc. – but I’m glad it’s here. 

On the way I got a shot of some street art around 1st Ave and Lincoln:

After lunch it was time for going to the Botanic Gardens with another friend.  It is still early for the gardens but things are starting to bloom.  Here are some springtime shots for your viewing pleasure:

At first I thought this was a snail on the plant below but on further inspection I decided it was not.  Not sure what it is though…

This was one of those days where it’s just nice to sit on a bench and watch the budding trees sway in the wind.

It was also the perfect night for a rooftop happy hour at Vita.  There was a slight breeze, we were in the shade, sitting at the bar, sipping on bubbly, and watching the light of the setting sun on the buildings of downtown Denver.  I tried to get a photo of me and the skyline in the background but my aim was a little off:

All of these venues were reached via bike.  I had forgotten how incredibly fun it is to ride from one side of downtown Denver to another on a bike in sandals.  Can’t wait for summer after this teaser of a day.